Philadelphia Union defender Josh Yaro underwent shoulder surgery this week after suffering a labral tear during preseason training, the team announced today. He is expected to miss three to four months.

The news is another setback for the No. 2 pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. In 17 appearances for the Union last year, Yaro showed flashes of his tremendous speed and technical ability. However, Yaro missed time due to two red cards, and his season ended following a frightening concussion suffered against New York Red Bulls.

In last week’s episode of the KYW Philly Soccer Show, Yaro told the pod that he was fully cleared to play.

“Josh came into preseason very fit and sharp. This setback is tough, but the right thing to do was to be proactive and surgery to repair the shoulder is what’s best for Josh long term,” Jim Curtin said in today’s release.

Yaro’s injury leaves a hole at right center back. Ken Tribbett started 19 games last year, platooning with Yaro in his first MLS season. He will likely compete with veteran signing Oguchi Onyewu and homegrown player Auston Trusty for minutes playing alongside Richie Marquez.

“We have a very deep roster that we believe in, and we know the next man will step up in Josh’s absence,” Curtin said.

Author: Peter Andrews
As PSP's Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief, Peter Andrews covers the Union from the far side of the United States. He has reported on the Union and USMNT from ten different venues in the U.S. and Canada, and writes a regular column for PSP. He is a graduate of Berkeley Law School and a proud native of Wilmington, Delaware. Follow him on Twitter @pfandrews.

Tribbett had a really rough end to last season, but people forget that he started the season quite strongly — strongly enough, in fact, to push Yaro to the bench. He even did a good job distributing out of the back. Now I don’t know which is the real Ken Tribbett, the early season one or the late season one, but until we get some more chance to see what he can do, I wouldn’t be THAT down on him yet. We don’t want to count on him to start, but I’m fine with him as a depth player.

This is a true fact which we witnessed with Creavalle last year too. It means Tribbett should be fine to start the beginning of the yearif necessary. Also, he hopefully learned a lot last year and will be better off for it. He is new to the position. I still think he could be a very solid back-up CB for us.

Trusty is a left footed center back.
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When Richie Marquez played every minute of Harrisburg City Islanders season the year they got all the way to the finals against Sacramento as the bottom seed in the East, Beating Orlando in Orlando and I think maybe Richmond in Richmond, he was a right center back.

Sucks for the kid but half a season isn’t the worst… and thankfully it’s a shoulder not a knee or ankle… or for him, his head (concussion). Seems like we have depth and this is why so hopefully it doesn’t hurt too much. Get well quick Josh!

So, who’s our second best healthy CB? The guy who proved last year that he’s not MLS quality, the guy who used to be good but hasn’t played a professional game in 3 years, or the 18 year old who’s entire professional career consists of 6 games for BSFC?
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Any chance Wijnaldum can play LCB?

Further news on Trusty just noticed. Earlier this afternoon on the MLS website it is reported that Auston Trusty has been selected by Tab Ramos for the U-20 men’s national team that will compete in the CONCACAF u-20 championship starting on February 17th in Costa Rica. That tournament doubles as the qualifier for theFIFA U-20 World Cup to be played in May in South Korea.
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Great opportunity.
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Also a test of roster flexibility and depth.
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Gotta go read up on MLS’s version of the disabled list.
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Yaro may somehow influence what Jim Curtin said the other day about numbers. Gotta try to figure that out.

“In the event a player suffers an injury that will prohibit him from participating in six or more MLS games, a club can place that injured player on the Disabled List. An injured player placed on the Disabled List will remain unavailable for a minimum of six MLS games and may not participate in any exhibition games or tournaments, including CONCACAF Champions League, AMWAY Canadian Championship and U.S. Open Cup games.”

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I presume that since Josh Yaro is a Generation Adidas player as listed by the MLS Staff updated roster on the MLS website, the following applies to him,
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“Supplemental and Reserve Roster Players on the Disabled List”
“In the event a player on a club’s Supplemental or Reserve Roster suffers an injury that will place such Player on the Disabled List, the club may replace the injured player with a player earning the Reserve Minimum Salary irrespective of the salary earned by the injured player (e.g., if a Generation adidas Player earning more than the Reserve Minimum Salary is injured, he may only be replaced by a Player earning the Reserve Minimum Salary (subject to the Club Salary Budget)). Such Reserve Minimum Salary will be charged to the Club Salary Budget. Therefore, a Club must have Salary Budget space to replace the injured Player on the Supplemental or Reserve Roster with a Disabled List Replacement Player. The Club must also ensure it has the necessary Roster space and Club Salary Budget available when the Player is removed from the Disabled List.”

I interpret all the above to mean that Josh Yaro will not occupy a roster slot for the duration of his recovery. How potential rehabilitation games with the Steel might work is not covered in the summary above in an immediately obvious way.
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So, Maybe Jack Elliott gets signed to an MLS contract rather than a USL one, for the time being. Not sure. A good question to ask Chris Albright or Earnie Stewart.

At some point he becomes injury prone. I’m not there yet with him though. A shoulder injury isn’t a huge deal (seems like it’s a re-injury from last year) and a concussion. Lets hope this is the last we talk about it though.

Not that I expect them, but I’d like more details on what the hell happened. If this was an injury from last year that needed attention, why wait until now for surgery? If this was a new injury, why are we hearing about it only after the surgery?
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I understand that MLS is less-than-opaque about a lot of their rules, but we should expect some greater and more immediate clarification from our team.
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Again…my expectations are likely out of line with reality…

The Yaro injury for me is more concerning long-term. This kid clearly has a lot of potential, but is getting torn up pretty early (and the concussions are the most concerning). Here’s to hoping the medical staff are able to do more than just “the protocol” to bring him up to speed.
Until then, I know I’m probably in the minority here, but I still think that Tribbett is serviceable as a CB for this team and MLS in general. While he made fatal mistakes, he also had some excellent defensive and offensive contributions. Last year, he was basically a rookie, playing along a CB with only a couple season experience. He made his biggest mistakes against some of the league’s best forwards, which realistically are the best learning opportunities.